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LINCOLN, Neb. -- She missed the biggest event in her hometown again. But these things happen when its time to be a college volleyball star.Nebraska outside hitter Mikaela Foecke -- whose last name is pronounced FECK-ee -- is from West Point, Iowa, which has hosted the annual Sweet Corn Festival every summer since 1952. Its a four-day celebration of Iowa-ness, with carnival rides, bands, bathtub races, water fights, a horseshoe tournament, a tractor pull, an arts and crafts show, 5K and 10K runs and a parade.And, of course, massive consumption of sweet corn. The whole town gathers before the festival to shuck upwards of 18 tons of corn. So, yes, before she became a Cornhusker, Foecke did a lot of corn shucking.Its pretty crazy, Foecke said. Its a town of about 900, and it multiplies by a lot during the Sweet Corn Festival. Theres lots of visitors, and all the family members who dont live in West Point anymore come back for it. Its basically a big reunion.However, this years festival was held Aug. 11-14, and defending national champion Nebraska had started volleyball practice. So, like last year, Foecke had to rely on reports from her mom about how things went.She lets me know who shes seen, who came home, who was the Sweet Corn Festival queen, Foecke said.The athletic queen of West Point already had been crowned, though, and her reign is ongoing. Foecke came to Lincoln in 2015 as one of the countrys most coveted recruits. She showed a knack for the big points early on, and that carried all the way through the national championship match in December.Foecke had 19 kills in a sweep of Texas in front of an NCAA-record crowd of 17,561 mostly red-clad Husker fans in Omaha, Nebraska. She was named the most outstanding player of the volleyball championship.I just love the big moments; Im not going to lie, Foecke said. When you hear the fans screaming, and you want that point so bad for your team, and you know the games on the line, Im not going to let my teammates down.You have to go after it and play fearlessly. I hope thats the mentality I have, and a lot of that is attributed to my teammates. Because you cant swing fearlessly if you dont believe your teammates are going to have your back.So how many times has she seen that championship match, or highlights of it?None, she said, smiling. I think that if I re-watched it, it wouldnt be as good as it is in my mind.But every athlete probably has that one game where he or she can always pull from that. The national championship -- just the feeling of the crowd and the way we all played together -- is something I want to work for every game.We can assure her if she ever does watch the final, it will be really good. Nebraska avenged a 3-2 loss to Texas near the start of the 2015 season. It was shortly after that early-September defeat, in fact, that Nebraska coach John Cook made two key position changes. He switched All-American Kadie Rolfzen to the right side, and put Foecke on the left.Kadies twin, Amber, already had changed from outside hitter her first two seasons to middle blocker for 2015, so there was a lot riding on everyone adapting well to reach their stated goal of an NCAA title.I think we continued to get better all season, but we didnt make it click until after those two losses at home to Minnesota and Wisconsin, Foecke said, referencing back-to-back defeats at the Devaney Center on Oct. 23-24. Then it was like, OK, weve got to kick this into gear if we really want to make our words reality. We worked harder than we had before. We started getting to know each other, not just the obvious things, but the deeper things.She means the Huskers truly started to understand the complexities of their strengths and weaknesses, and the best ways to complement each other. They didnt lose another match, closing out the season winning 16 in a row.With so much back -- including the Rolfzens, Foecke and setter Kelly Hunter -- plus key additions both from transfers and the freshman class, the Huskers are preseason No. 1 and have a realistic hope of accomplishing a first for Nebraska: repeating as national champions.The program has won four NCAA titles overall: in 1995, 2000, 2006 and last year. Cook was head coach for the past three. He was pleased with the way Nebraska played in 2001 when trying to repeat; the Huskers made the final four before falling in the semifinals to a Logan Tom-led Stanford team that won the title.The end of the 2007 season, though, was a disappointment. The Huskers were mega-talented, bringing back all their stars from the 2006 championship. Yet they were swept in a regional final by Cal.They were a great team on paper, but they were not a great team when it came to crunch time, Cook said. And thats what this team has been working on and figuring out this summer: How they can be great at crunch time.Foecke, who was second on the team last year in overall kills (386) and kills per set (3.09), should be a big part of that. Hunter, who as the setter knows her teammates pluses and minuses very well, basically says Foecke is so good, shes ridiculous. But Hunter thinks Foecke can be more vocal this season.Foecke is also making the improvements youd expect from a big hitter entering her sophomore year: getting stronger, diversifying her offense, and ramping up her serve receive and defense.At 6-foot-3, she relied on natural ability throughout high school. At Nebraska, shes had access to top-notch strength training, and the results are obvious.Im hang-cleaning and squatting things now that I would have looked at last summer and thought, Wow, Im never going to get there, Foecke said. But its all a process, and each day you keep getting better and striving to work harder.For a kid who showed hogs and always had a daily list of chores, hard work is routine. An animal science major, she wants to be a veterinarian, preferably for large animals. But she probably has a lot of volleyball to play before shes practicing as Dr. Foecke.Shes gotten stronger, quicker, more explosive, Cook said of Foeckes work during the summer. Hopefully, thats going to allow her to go to another level as a player. NHL Jerseys Sale . -- Stanfords Kevin Danser knelt on one knee and hardly moved on the sideline as Michigan State celebrated its Rose Bowl victory and his Cardinal teammates made their way to the locker room. Clearance NHL Jerseys . Emery skated the length of the ice and fought an unwilling Holtby during the third period of the Flyers 7-0 loss Friday night in Philadelphia. He was given 29 penalty minutes, including a game misconduct. But Emery did not face even a disciplinary hearing with NHL senior vice president of player safety Brendan Shanahan because rules 46. https://www.chinanhljerseys.us/ . Mats Zuccarello and Derek Stepan scored shootout goals, and backup goalie Cam Talbot earned his second win in two nights as the Rangers shook off a late tying tally and beat the Maple Leafs 2-1 Monday night. NHL Jerseys China . First off, the fans ripped the Cubbies introduction of a fuzzy new kid-friendly mascot named "Clark". NHL Jerseys Outlet . Sgt. Eric ONeal says most of the arrests at Monday nights game were for public drunkenness, though one person was taken into custody on suspicion of trying to steal a seat from the stadium. HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Jimmie Johnson didnt shy away from talk of a record-tying seventh Sprint Cup championship.So he has no reason to shy away from talk of an eighth.Within hours of hoisting his seventh Sprint Cup, Johnson couldnt avoid questions Sunday night at Homestead-Miami Speedway about earning an eighth, a championship that would put him in elite company -- with himself. He currently sits tied with Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt Sr. for the record with seven titles.I dont know what the chances are, but lets go, Johnson said a couple of hours after his victory celebrations. Im so excited to put that in front of myself and the team as a hurdle to get over and an accomplishment to achieve.Johnson swears that all he ever wanted to do was race. He obviously has done more than that with 80 victories and the seven titles -- with the seven coming in a shorter span (11 years) than Earnhardts first seven (15 years) and Pettys (16 years).The 41-year-old Johnson won five consecutive titles from 2006 to 10 and then again in 2013, with all of them coming in the 10-race mini-season format. This was his first in the elimination-style format implemented in 2014.I had a lot of fun racing for the sixth, Johnson said. This one and the calm nature and the way we went about business and got it done only gives me more confidence for tthe future.dddddddddddd.I honestly feel like Im playing with house money. I never aspired to be famous. I never aspired to be a champion. I just wanted to race.Even his car owner, Rick Hendrick, didnt shy away from the conversation. Hendrick has won 12 of the past 25 championships -- seven with Johnson, four with Jeff Gordon and one with Terry Labonte.I think the five in a row was pretty phenomenal, and I think winning seven and tying seven is pretty special, Hendrick said. Im excited to see him and [crew chief] Chad [Knaus] try to break the record now because were tied, and you cant go to eight until you get seven.A seventh title didnt appear likely for much of the 2016 season, which included Johnsons longest winless streak -- 24 races -- of his career. His calm demeanor throughout it all likely helped, especially in the season finale Sunday, when he ran last among the four finalists for much of the race.He thinks he can bring the same attitude toward trying to win an eighth title.Ive found a way to put it in that simple mindset here the last couple attempts, in 13 and now in 16, Johnson said. I think it makes us really dangerous, and I look forward to the challenge of trying to get No. 8. ' ' '